Chrome exists to get users to spend more time online by expanding the capabilities of the web. Chrome's market share determines its ability to influence the future of the web, so Google aims to increase Chrome's usage through advertising. Users value reliability, speed, ease of use, functionality, and features in browsers. Chrome is known for speed and being new, similarly to Firefox. While Chrome sees success in getting users to try it, more can be done to help users fully adopt Chrome as their primary browser by addressing barriers like habit and comfort with other browsers. Potential strategies include focusing on the enhanced web experience Chrome provides, leveraging Google's ecosystem for convenience, and emphasizing Chrome's leadership in advancing web technologies.

1. The Browser Wars + Google’s
Chrome Sword

2. Why is Google in the Game ??
(my speculations…)

3. Google wants us to spend
more time online (preferably
in the browser)

4. The more time we spend online, the
more opportunity Google has to serve us
with ads ($$$)

5. Offline desktop software
(and, to a lesser extent, native
apps) is currently a large
blind spot for Google

6. However, new technologies such as
HTML5, CSS3, SVG, WebGL, and Native
Client mean that this might not be
the case for much longer…
Advanced web technologies now
realistically present the potential of
carrying full desktop functionality
over to the web. HTML5, for one,
is already doing this

7. But, though the technology
exists (or might exist soon), users
won’t use products that don’t exist,
and developers won’t create products
that don’t work on users’ browsers

8. Which brings us to…
W3C + WHATWG + Standards Process
Standards boards exist to encourage
conformity across browsers so that the
internet doesn’t become the internets
They have a reputation for being
slow, political, and ineffectual

9. The most important thing to remember is:
The current state of the
internet is in constant flux and
determined as a result of power
relationships between
USERS – DEVELOPERS – BROWSERS – STANDARDS
Each of these groups has power to
shape the web

10. So if Google wants to impact user
behavior and get us to spend more time
online, it might be a good idea for them
to establish a presence within one of
these power bases
USERS – DEVELOPERS – BROWSERS – STANDARDS
(Chrome as an agent of behavioral change)

11. The Purpose:
Chrome exists to push the web forward
(doesn’t sound too evil, does it?)

12. “As technologies like HTML5, CSS3, SVG
and WebGL start to become more mainstream,
not only will the web apps we already use
become more useful, but we should also see
developers building web apps that do things
that previously could have only been done
by desktop applications”
– Simon Mackie, GigaOm

13. The more that is possible to do
online, the more time people like you
and me will spend on the web
And the more likely we are to see
Google-owned ad space!

14. But, because developers won’t make
things that nobody will use, Chrome’s
ability to push the market forward is
determined by its market share

15. So if Google wants to maximize its
ability to control the future of the
web, they should (1) build a browser
people want to use and (2) market the
hell out of it
Purpose of advertising: Increase
Chrome’s global share of total hours
spent browsing the web

16. HOW TO GET THERE

17. WHAT DO USERS CARE ABOUT ??
(**the following is informed by a quick’n’dirty survey I sent
through Mechanical Turk, heaps of blog comments, and a handful of
qualitative interviews I conducted**)

18. Q: What are your main sources of
frustration while browsing?
- Crashing/Freezing/Bugs
- Too slow
- Lack of functionality with
some sites
- Too cluttered with toolbars

19. Q: What do you like most about your
browsing experience?
- Speed
- Learning things on the web
- When it is effortless
- Multiple tabs
- Reliability / “When it works
like it’s meant to”
- Customizable

20. Q: What do you like most about your
browsing experience?
- Speed
- Learning things on the web
- When it is effortless
- Multiple tabs
- Reliability / “When it works
like it’s meant to”
- Customizable

21. It seems that, for a lot of people,
the web browser is a barrier to their
enjoyment of the web. Many think of the
browser as a means to an end and just
want something that won’t get in the
way of their web experience.

22. Browser qualities users value highly
- Reliability
- Speed
- Ease of use
- Functionality
- Features
- Convenience

23. Of Chrome’s 3 S’s (Speed, Simplicity, and
Security), it appears that speed has the most
traction.
Security seems to be something users expect
more than they desire, but valued insofar as
it relates to reliability.
Simplicity is a tricky one because, though
users value simplicity relating to design and
ease of use, simplicity in functionality and
features has a negative connotation.
(Other qualities I associate with Chrome such
as “openness” barely registered outside the
developer/tech geek community…)

24. Q: Why do you use the browser you
currently use most frequently?
- Chrome users: speed, design,
reliability
- Firefox users: trust, familiarity,
performance, speed, features
- Explorer users: convenience,
habit, no reason
- Safari users: convenience,
compatibility

25. Q: What comes to mind when you think
of [X] browser?
- Chrome: Google, speed, new, up-and
coming, unsure, sleek
- Firefox: best, fast, reliable, quality,
popular, feature-rich*
- Explorer: slow, crap, last resort, old,
on its way out, familiar, viruses,
“annoying thing I use to download
other browsers”
- Safari: Apple, (jungle), secondary,
inadequate, standard, stylish
(*NB: a disproportionately high number of Firefox users responded to my
survey, so the results are skewed by that as well as by the survey method…
a broader and more representative sample set would clearly be more ideal)

26. Observations:
- Safari and Chrome are heavily associated
with their parent companies
- Explorer and Safari seem to be strong in
convenience and compatibility (there may be
some fruitful strategic space for Chrome in
here, especially considering Google’s
robust web-based product ecosystem)
- Chrome and Firefox overlap a lot
perceptually - both achieving recognition
for speed, performance, reliability, and
features (with chrome stronger on speed and
Firefox more closely associated with
features and reliability)

27. Observations (cont’d):
- Explorer continues to suffer from a large
amount of negativity, despite the fact that
it has started competing again with IE9. It
will take a long time for IE to overcome
its outdated, glitchy image considering
that the idea is deeply ingrained. Also,
the fact that many people have no choice
but to use IE6 at work does not help
Explorer’s cause. The idea that Chrome was
‘built from the ground up’ might be fertile
ground for luring IE users

28. Observations (cont’d):
- People are still a bit unsure about
Chrome due to its newness (so the ‘built
from the ground up’ idea might not resonate
well with all target audiences)
- Despite heavy emphasis on openness from
Firefox (especially) and Chrome, the
quality barely registered as something
users care about or associate with any
browser (at least outside of the developer
community)

29. SWITCHING
It’s not enough to build messaging around
what users value. To get people to change
their behavior and adopt Chrome as their
primary browser, Google must understand
why people switch from and stick with
their current browsers

30. Why do people switch?
a spark may lead to a trial, which may
lead to an adoption
SPARK  TRIAL  ADOPTION

31. Types of Sparks
- Curiosity (may be caused by word of mouth,
recommendations, advertising, etc.)
- Frustration with immediate browsing
experience (e.g. browser crashes, user
visits a site that wont work with his or
her current browser)*
- Use of new device (e.g. a work computer,
a friend’s tablet) that has a different
browser installed
(sparks range in nature from voluntary to involuntary)

32. *A Note on Frustration (from previous slide):
I found it interesting that a few people cited “standards
compliance” as a source of frustration. This indicates to
me that when a user navigates to a site built on advanced
web technology, they blame their browser if the site does
not display properly. If this is the case, Chrome should
keep pushing advanced web technologies that make cool
sites like Tinkercad or OK Go’s “All is Not Lost” Chrome
Experiment possible – especially since Explorer currently
does not support WebGL. The cooler the website/app, the
stronger the spark

33. How is Chrome doing with trial?
SPARK  TRIAL

34. Not too bad…
- 60% of people surveyed have tried
Chrome at some point in the past
- 30% of people surveyed have tried a
new browser within the past month
- 50% of people surveyed have tried a
new browser in the last six months
(after that, there is a bit of a lag, with
30% having not tried a browser for 2+ years)

35. Most frequently cited reasons for trial:
- Positive WoM/recommended by friend
- Normal browser wasn’t working well
(mainly IE-specific)
- Heard it was faster
- Pre-installed on another device I
used/came with another program
- Curiosity
- To use an app or extension

36. But, of the people who had tried
Chrome, only 30% reported currently
using it as their primary browser…
TRIAL  ADOPTION

37. …which is strange because the people
who tried Chrome seemed to like it
(all impressions of Chrome from the group
who had tried but not adopted Chrome were
positive - ranging from “great” to “fast”
to “on its way up” - or neutral - ranging
from “Google” to “backup browser”)

38. So what is going on?

39. Barriers to switching exist that prevent
users from switching even though they have
a positive experience with a new browser
Barriers to switching include:
- Habit
- Add-ons and Extensions*
- Comfort with current browser / no
pressing reason to switch
(each of these is closely related to convenience)
*85% of Firefox users have installed add-ons

40. In this case, the trick is to repeat
the SPARK  TRIAL process as much as
possible*
(the more the behavior is repeated,
the less convenient using another browser
becomes, the more likely using Chrome is
to become habit)
(REPEATED) TRIAL  ADOPTION
*The first trial is the hardest to achieve. Once the browser is installed on
someone’s computer, there is less resistance moving from SPARK  TRIAL

41. Implications:
- Current marketing activity seems to be
working to induce trial
- Chrome should keep pushing Chrome
Experiments and advanced web technologies
to increase frequency of sparks
- Chrome should advertise that it is at
the forefront of web technology – that it
allows users to achieve more with their
web experience – so that current users
feel good about Chrome and potential
users think of Chrome when their normal
browser isn’t working well

42. Implications (cont’d):
- Chrome should sponsor more initiatives,
like Chrome for a Cause, which might make
users more familiar with and habitualized
to the browser
- Chrome communications should emphasize
features that mitigate barriers to
switching (for example, ease of importing
bookmarks to Chrome from other browsers)
- Chrome should build up its own barriers
to switching with extensions, apps, and
seamless integration with other Google
services like Gmail, Maps and Search

43. Implications (cont’d):
- Chrome might want to target the TRIAL 
ADOPTION conversion more with its creative
messaging, possibly by incorporating
themes such as convenience, familiarity,
and reassurance

44. STRATEGIC KERNELS

45. POTENTIAL CREATIVE TERRITORIES: #1
It’s about the web not the browser.
Stemming from the idea that users can see
the browser as a barrier to their web
experience – this could build off pre-
existing Chrome strengths such as ease of
use, speed, and simplicity in design. It
also speaks to user desires for a
reliable, effortless browsing experience.
Nothing comes between you and what you’re
there for …something along these lines.

46. POTENTIAL CREATIVE TERRITORIES: #2
Convenience/Comfort/Seamless Ecosystem
Users reported convenience, compatibility,
and familiarity as important factors in
choosing a browser. Some also reported
Chrome as feeling “too new,” which made
them “unsure” about the browser.
To play to the former and combat the
latter, Chrome could leverage Google’s
robust, web-based product ecosystem…

47. …especially considering that Google
products we all use regularly, like Maps
and search, work better with Chrome.
Messaging along these lines would also
help retain current Google Chrome users,
as comfort, compatibility, and familiarity
are important barriers to switching.

48. POTENTIAL CREATIVE TERRITORIES: #3
Pushing the web forward.
Chrome is already developing a reputation
– which it should actively support - for
being at the forefront of web technology.
This is great for Chrome because it feeds
into the idea that you can do anything you
want to on the web with Chrome (a slight
variation on Potential Creative Territory
#1) - with advanced web technologies, the
browser is not only not a barrier to your
web experience, it actively enhances it.

49. This idea would also resonate well with
the tech press and developer communities
(who influence the right side of the tech
adoption curve); and would smack of
authenticity because it is true.
Pushing the web forward should encourage
even more trial as people become curious
and want to see what Chrome can do that
other browsers can’t. Further, current
Chrome users would feel tech-savvy and
progressive – reinforcing their desire to
stick with the browser.
User-centric variants on the theme could
be something like “do more with Chrome”

50. POTENTIAL CREATIVE TERRITORIES: #4
Speed.
It’s working. I wouldn’t abandon it. Users
care about speed and strongly associate it
with Chrome. Maybe focus the message more
to current IE and Safari users, if
possible, as speed doesn’t seem to be a
huge source of tension for Firefox users
at the moment.
(I also wouldn’t abandon the “the web is what
you make” of it campaign - some of those ads
give me goose bumps! And they working on many
of the dimensions I’ve identified)

51. SUMMARY
- Chrome is an agent of behavioral change. It
exists to get users to spend more time online
by expanding the capabilities of the web
- Chrome’s ability to push the market forward
is determined by its market share. The reason
for advertising, then, is to increase Chrome’s
share of total hours spent browsing the web
- Users value Reliability, Speed, Ease of use,
Functionality, Features, and Convenience in
browsers
- Chrome is best known for speed, design, and
being new; perceptually, has a lot in common
with Firefox

52. SUMMARY (cont’d)
- Switching happens from SPARK  TRIAL 
ADOPTION. Chrome seems to be doing well from
SPARK to TRIAL, and should also focus effort
bridging TRIAL and ADOPTION
- Potential creative territories include a
focus on the web experience over the browser
experience, convenience and familiarity with
the Google ecosystem, and pushing the web
forward

53. PARTING THOUGHTS

54. It’s an exciting time to be working
with the internet – thanks to passionate
web developers and companies like Google
pushing the web forward with exciting new
technologies, it feels like we’re on the
cusp of a revolution in our conception
of what’s possible on the internet

55. Thank you.